Thursday, November 10, 2005

The Mystery Guy Who Was Also In San Francisco

I said in a previous post that I flew on the same red-eye flight between San Francisco and Detroit with someone who was wearing a staff shirt from the SFO launch event. This guy looked really familiar to me, and I couldn't place him.

I sort of thought that maybe he was on the floor (maybe at a kiosk), and I talked to him. But, that didn't seem right. Then I thought that maybe he was a speaker, and I watched him present. But, that also didn't sound right. No, I somehow knew this face from months before.

When we arrived in Detroit, he got off the plane long before me, so I was unable to stop him and ask. I figured that he was heading to our event, so I decided that I would just locate him there.

I looked for him all day, but didn't find him. Maybe he's a local then. Or, maybe he was just connecting through DTW... Oh, well.

After the launch event, Drew Robbins (DE for Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky) had invited me to dinner with a lot of blue badges and other community members. Had a nice time, and talked to a few people. I also learned that Josh Holmes is not a fan of SQLCLR. ;-)

But, about midway through, in walks the mystery guy! Now I had the chance to find out just who he was and how I knew him.

I first start my covert operation by asking Josh who he was. Josh is pretty connected, being an INETA speaker and a MVP. And, of course, Josh knew exactly who he was. Chris Mmmmmggeedsreasdjk. Or, at least I didn't recognize the name. But, I learned that he was an RD out of Dallas, and ran a company named Notion Solutions, and was a VSTS guru.

That was all well and good, but I still had no clue how I knew him. Being a RD, he probably gave a Grok Talk that I watched. But, that's not enough to make a big impression on me. No, I watched this guy for a good length of time before.

After dinner, while people were leaving, I saw my opportunity. I walked up, and introduced myself, and then just right out and said, "How do I know you?" I think after a few wrong guesses, he finally said "Coderoom".

Of course! He's the "No, I’ll do code then, if you’re going to just sit here and bitch." guy from the pilot episode! Chris Menegay, not Mmmmmggeedsreasdjk!

We chatted for a while about certain behind-the-scenes aspects of the show, and I was satisfied that I finally solved the mystery of who this guy was. Now, I'll know him as the VSTS expert instead of the cranky Texan who smuggled bottlecaps into the Coderoom filming.